The Heretic's Daughter

“Puritans believed they were a people covenanted with God […] they were to bend the course of the world to God’s plan. I say now, What arrogance. The Town Fathers believed they were saints, predestined by the Almighty to rule over our little hamlets with harsh justice and holy purpose.”

Sarah makes this assessment of Puritanism from the vantage point of an elderly woman with a lifetime of experience that she can contrast with the beliefs she held in childhood. All the citizens of the colonies largely behaved like children under the parental guidance of their community clerics. Like authoritarian fathers, Puritan ministers believed that they were always right instead of merely arrogant.

“She, with a deliberation bordering on the unseemly, set herself apart from what a woman should be and was as surprising as a flood or a brush fire. She had a will, and a demeanor, as forceful as a church deacon’s.”

Martha has already made herself conspicuous by her outspokenness. Puritan wives were supposed to be meek and humble in the presence of men. The Salem trials were essentially a war against women like Martha. Witches were perceived as powerful women who represented a threat to the existing social order. They might topple men in high places and must be destroyed.

“She had asked him, ‘Are you the parson who serves all of Salmon Falls?’ ‘No, Goody Carrier,’ he answered. ‘I am the parson that rules all of Salmon Falls.’”

The parson makes a distinction in this quote that highlights the Puritan minister’s perception of his role in the community. Whereas Martha sees a minister as the servant of the people, this parson sees himself as the king of his small realm. Again, the novel emphasizes the arrogance of Puritan religious leaders.